Easterly Investment Partners LLC Has $9.98 Million Position in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Centene Co. (NYSE:CNC - Free Report) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 164,797 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,252 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Centene were worth $9,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Centene by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 412 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Centene during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Centene by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 631 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co grew its holdings in Centene by 172.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 758 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CNC shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Centene from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Centene from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Centene in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group raised shares of Centene from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Centene from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.92.

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Centene Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNC traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $60.09. The stock had a trading volume of 1,203,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,593,207. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $59.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.66. Centene Co. has a 1-year low of $55.03 and a 1-year high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Centene (NYSE:CNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $40.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.78 billion. Centene had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 2.03%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Centene Co. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Centene Company Profile

Centene Corporation operates as a healthcare enterprise that provides programs and services to under-insured and uninsured families, commercial organizations, and military families in the United States. The company operates through Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other segments. The Medicaid segment offers health plan coverage, including medicaid expansion, aged, blind, disabled, children's health insurance program, foster care, medicare-medicaid plans, long-term services and support.